Losing the toss and fielding wasn’t the plan however the side had done this job well all season.

Shoalhaven started well with both openers Cooper Bramley and Mitch Downey bowling tight and ground fielding as usual, at a high level.

The innings slowly started to sway towards Illawarra with some quality batting and to be fair some under par bowling and fielding.

Illawarra finished their 40 overs with 9/188 with a late burst of runs.  A good score however not an insurmountable target with a small and fast outfield and a wonderful wicket to bat on.

Cooper Bramley was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/39 from his 8 overs and was very well supported by Mitch Downey 2/22 off 8 and Max Carr-McCarron 1/16 off 8.

The Shoalhaven innings didn’t really gain any momentum at any stage, losing wickets at regular intervals and never getting those important partnerships going.

Ryan Gilkes was the best performer in the top making a typical classy 24 from 26.

The two run-outs of Tuckwell and Sims really hurt the cause, but it was wonderful fielding from Illawarra.

A defiant innings of 30 from Mitch Downey gave the boys a glimmer of hope, but it wasn’t to be as Shoalhaven were bowled out in the final over for 150.

Other contributions with the bat came from Tim Hopkins 16 and Christian Page 10.

Again Illawarra Red bowled really tight through the middle of the innings and they were great in the field, worthy winners.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Shoalhaven’s best performance on the day. The fielding and batting in partnerships were the 2 main areas which needed to be better. However we dust ourselves off and head into the final round of the competition, an away game  against Illawarra Blue. It’s been an extremely positive season and it would be great to learn from last week and finish with another quality performance.